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Me & My Pony

Lately I've been working out some things here in these pages, openly, publicly, and with great debate. Often in the midst of a harsh word or two. All of which I enjoy immensely. But it does, at least from my perspective, tend to cast my readers into a narrow focus. Much like the horse in the image above this post. It is easy to become focused, to wear blinders, to stop seeing the forest for those damn trees.

A lot of this springs out of the very nature of what I do here. I write a lot. Almost every single day. It can often be challenging each morning, in the time between the first set of kids going off to school and the second set about forty minutes later - which is typically my post writing time of the day - to not only figure out "what" I'm going to write but also actually write it. Frankly I'm surprised, more than anyone, that I'm still doing it. That is a lot of words about Eve over the past six years.

The other challenge stems from the natural turn-over in readers. New people come along and long-time readers sometimes slide away. This is challenging for me. Not everyone is going to take the time to dig back thru the archives and catch up to the narrative I've been building on. Every once in awhile, like today, I have to stop and ponder a bit on the larger issues. To re-cast the narrative a bit. To help put things back into focus. To take the blinders off. At least to widen the view a tad more.

So let's do that today.

First of all I am Eve's biggest fan. I love this crazy game and the people that play it. I enjoy the larger community and being a part of the force that helps to drive interest in, activity for, and advocacy of Eve. No matter the haters, the thieves, the smack-talkers in local, the "know-betters", no matter what negativity might be thrown in my direction - I intend to keep at it. I fully and 110% support every single type of play-style that Eve has to offer and your right to play this game exactly the way you want to play it. I would never in a gazillion years try to dictate or force anyone to play Eve any other way, than the way they want. I have my play-style, developed over seven long years to be perfectly suited for me, and you have yours. Which is perfect.

But this is my platform. Other people can have their own platforms. I also encourage that and I have since day one. But here, on this platform, you are getting me and no one else. So I'm going to promote my own beliefs, my own opinions, my own thoughts, desires, challenges, my own story inside and outside of Eve -as it develops. That is all I can do. Sometimes I will even stir pots right here in front of you. I like to poke the ants nest and see what happens. I've always been like that and I'm not going to stop.

With that in mind I am Pro-Low Sec. More than that even, I am Pro Pirate. Pro Solo and Small Gang. Because that is the play-style that I choose to play. People often misunderstand that perspective and see it as a position that is in opposition to other play-styles. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing in Eve exists within a vacuum and, as I said above, all other forms of play within New Eden are equally important. To the game and to me. I truly do believe that. But honestly, the pirate play-style is the best one :)

Based on lessons learned during these years of playing Eve and flying all over New Eden, experiencing different places and play - over the last two years I've also worked my butt off building my own Corporation and Alliance. So, naturally, I tend to believe it is the best place to play in all of New Eden. I am the leader of Stay Frosty and A Band Apart and I am going to talk about them here in these pages. Promote them, discuss them, and generally be their biggest fan. Cause they are an amazing, awesome, and extremely great bunch of people to play Eve with.

And then, every once in awhile, you get a free wallpaper or other piece of art, video or whatnot. It is a pretty great deal when you think about it.

I work hard at this. I do it because I love it. Because it keeps me busy and I've always been like that, I have to stay busy. It is my nature. I can't stop. So I hope that helps cast things in a bit of perspective for you. I appreciate every single one of my readers, those that comment, and those that read and move along. I do this every day for you. And for me. And for Eve.

Comments

The hilarious thing is that I've been having my own little series of posts going as well, and I've got a post scheduled to drop in less than a week that hits this very same point. Too many people make the mistake of believing we write The Only Way, instead of a playstyle and a way of viewing the game that we prefer to promote and would like to see folks adopt.

Javixx, you're not fooling anyone. We can see the code. In paragraph 5 (or 6, if 5 words constitutes a paragraph), the first letter of the first word is B. A little later we see an "a", followed shortly by an "n". In the same paragraph, we also see a "W", a "C" and an "S".Don't think that we can't see your agenda. All of these together spell "Ban WCS". I'll bet you thought you were clever, you thought we wouldn't see. Oh, we can see it all right. We're always watching... always... watching...

No! Fuck you! And the pony you rode in on! I'm never reading this blog again!

On a more serious note; I'm sure we all know this is your platform (I hope we do anyway it has your picture and everything after all), but when you put you opinions out there, people are going to subject them to scrutiny and a comment such is the nature of venturing into the public space :)

Well I sure hope so, as that is part of the point. As you well know I have never shied away from that here and won't any time soon. I'd also hope that I provide some level of entertainment, enlightenment and knowledge from time to time.

Rixx n Tal, we all get that you are advocates of both your playstyles and spaces... as I am mine. But what you may not see is the tone of the way you both post is very "This is The Right Way."... You both make definitive statements, you say how this or that is "Wrong" and needs to be "Changed" “For the Good of The Game”... and yes, you both also "say" you support all playstyles... but verbally, you show them no respect. Or, I should say, the way you write can be perceived that way.

Guys... the fact that you both feel prompted to do clarification or position posts like these should say something about how your posts are perceived... and perception is reality as we all know. The only advise I would give, keeping in mind it is worth exactly the cost of the recycled electrons it is made of... is to consider the ‘tone’ of your posts...

One example… Rix says things like:

“Now, four months later, it seems my concerns were justified. Combat Recons haven't suddenly become a plague or anything, but they also haven't become an essential part of fleets either. Instead we are primarily seeing them parked inside Medium and Large Plex with a bait ship. Last weekend I saw three of these Recon Camps in three Systems. Last night someone had two of them set up in next door Systems.”

These are very definitive statements…

”…they also haven't become an essential part of fleets…”

Not ‘essential’ to you…

”…we are primarily seeing them parked inside…”

‘Primarily’ to you…

Not to me, and obviously not to many of your readers either. These are declarations, definitive statements that FEEL like you are saying your game is the only game. When I read the above paragraph I was very slightly offended…

We use them in fleets all the time. We fly tham as back up to our Cov Ops when scouting, and use them as ‘First Through the Hole’ when setting up an attack. IE WE do use them in fleet all the time… and not once have I seen a Recon parked inside Medium or Large Plex… ever.

This is what gets to people guys… the way you talk about this stuff. In your game they are not used ‘essentially’ in fleets, and they are ‘primarily’ seen by you in FacWar plexes. Not in mine and evidentially not in a lot of other players either from the comments.

To sum up… you know how when someone says, “I don’t mean to be a bitch, but…” and you both know that’s exactly where they are going… the caveat, “I don’t mean to be…” does nothing to reduce the amount of ‘bitch’ that comes after.

When you say, “I fully and 110% support every single type of play-style that Eve has to offer and your right to play this game exactly the way you want to play it.” most if not all of whatever you say after that, invalidates it… might as well say “I don’t mean to look down on your…” …but you do, or at least your readers, I among them ‘perceive’ you as doing so… which in the end to them, is the same thing.

I have been controversial on my blog but I always write from a stance of ‘this is just my opinion’, ‘your gameplay may vary’ ‘this is how I saw it’, etc., etc. Even when I talk about the metagame or the whole game, my stance, my narrative, is not objective and definitive… it is subjective and personal. Instead of “WCS is a broken module and should be removed.”… I say things like, “In Anokis this will cause us some real issues.” or “That will suck for us small gang players…”

I have never had a comment or reaction to any of my posts that made me feel I had to define my stance or “re-cast the narrative a bit.” If you feel you are being misunderstood, I offer you that just possibly, just maybe, it is not the readers fault… I ask that you both take a look at WHY you feel this need and where that feeling might stem from…

I respect you and your opinion Tur, but I have to totally disagree with you. I understand what you are trying to say, but I have to push back a little and disagree with you. I 100% believe that nothing you've said in your comment applies to me or the words I write in this blog.

I am a person who plays a video game. Everything I write is from that perspective. And I've not once hidden that fact. It is one of the reasons I will never run for CSM, I do not want to represent anyone but myself. This is a journal first and foremost, a personal narrative told from my own experiences and those of the character(s) I play in Eve. From that point of view you are trying to invalidate my experience. And I reject that wholeheartedly. I won't allow anyone, not you or anyone else, to do so.

I did in point of fact, actually see three Combat Recon gangs in three connected systems baiting inside of Plex. That is a real experience based in fact. That may or may not be your experience, but it was mine. And I will not shy away from relating my own experiences on my own blog in my own words. Not for you, or anyone else. Ever.

It is your right to reject my experience I suppose. Or to disagree with it. Or to offer a counter-argument. But it really isn't your right to negate the facts surrounding my experience. Just as it is not mine to do so to anyone else's. Something I would never, ever even attempt to do.

While I support all play-styles, I do not actively engage in them all. Nor do I want to. All I can speak to is my own and what I perceive of others. Or what I read on other blogs, or hear from other players. I make no bones about that and I consider myself fortunate to play with a group of passionate players involved in a wide variety of activities. Which keeps me informed daily on what is going on around new eden.

Consider for a moment that when I say, "I fully and 110% support every single type of play-style that Eve has to offer and your right to play this game exactly the way you want to play it." that I actually, truly mean it. Because you know what? I do. I challenge you to take a moment and consider the possibility that I mean what I say.

I don't write these types of posts to negate anything I've ever said. I simply write these to re-plant a flag for new readers and to remind long-time readers of where I am coming from. Not as apology, but as fact.

I will continue to set fires, stir pots, challenge the status-quo, ask hard questions, demand accountability, openly mock those that deserve to be mocked, and poke sticks into hornet's nests, because that is what I have always done.

It is up to you if you like that sort of thing or not. All I can do is write the words and draw the pictures.

And I respect you Rixx… or should I say, I respect you Brian. We met, granted very briefly at Sugar Kyle’s last NOVA EVE Meet… and I liked the man I met.

I hope have not offended you, I know some of what I said could be seen in that light. I hoped you would at least see what I was trying to get at, whether or not you agreed. I do believe you when you say you respect all playstyles. And I understand you do not agree with me.

And yet… a lot of players who comment on your blog do not argue against your idea’s so much as the basis for those idea’s… I know you write from your perspective, as I and Tal and Sugar and all of us write from each our own subjective individual points of view. Your representation of yourself, and no one else, is very clear…

I would never try to invalidate your experience or point of view. I believe you when you said that you did “…in point of fact, actually see three Combat Recon gangs in three connected systems baiting inside of Plex.” I have no issue with that or you discussing it, and I never said you didn’t see them. I said I never have seen that.

Your discussion of ‘changing’ mechanics, gameplay and modules needs include the potential impacts on ALL gameplay in EVE… not just the changes that would benefit your singular point of view as a Pirate in Lowsec Fac War space. How any potential changes might impact my beloved home of Anoikis must be considered as well and Hisec and Nullsec. But as you have made very clear, and to me and many others what I think comes across in your writing is that you only ‘poke the hornet’s nest’ as twere, from your own personal viewpoint. As you said, ”I do not actively engage in them all. Nor do I want to. All I can speak to is my own and what I perceive of others.”

Your ‘statement’ that this tactic and gameplay of ‘Combat Recon gangs baiting in of Plexs’ is the PRIMARY tactic for Combat Recons… and as such is broken and not good gameplay. All I am saying is that it is not the PRIMARY tactic and gameplay for Combat Recons in all of EVE…

I know you will say you didn’t say that… and that you were only taking about your personal experiences and I’m taking you out of context and I am reading you wrong… but to me… that is the writer blaming the reader for misunderstanding what the writer said. As a blogger, professional tech writer, draftsman and artist myself whether or not someone understands what “I” am saying is, IMHO, completely and totally on me. I am the one crafting the message… if I don’t get my point across it is not their fault, it is mine.

And in this case, with this line of comments and discussion, I have failed… I wish I could write better, I wish I could get across to you the concept I am trying to convey… but this is not going anywhere useful or either of us, so I will stop here.

I will continue to read your blog and admire your art… and I hope there are no hard feelings. I too respect you, your talent and your heartfelt passion for this great game we share.

Rixx, want to fix that? Promote a new event. you know you have sponsors. We laugh at you because we get you busy to make it happen and then you laugh at us when it actually happens as you deliver.

It is time for another such event.

On the topics above, you got right on the spot and people is still not understanding, or not willing to understand, that if they are reading here is all about you and your play style and if they don't like they can pretty much go somewhere else. Maybe they enjoy TMC or EvenNews24, always a personal option. I have expressed multiple times that I not necessarily agree with your comments, but still they provide different views from a different "reality" in Eve.

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